The Council has begun releasing details of its budget cuts for April onwards. After two years of Government cuts, the coming financial year will see even bigger changes to services funded through the Council, which has £50 million less to spend this year.
The Council will make more decisions in February as it prepares to set its formal budget on 1st March. The impact on Burngreave will be huge and the nature of the services being cut means Burngreave can expect to be harder hit than many other areas of the city.
Young people and families
As can be seen, the biggest part of the cuts affects young people in particular. The very successful Study Support schemes and the Adventure Playground face closure and Verdon Recreation Centre will no longer have any staff based there.
There will be a further blow to young people with the end of ‘Kids Can Do’ funding, which paid for additional activities in the area. Burngreave will lose just under £50,000. The end of some Government funding for gang prevention will probably result in the loss of the Vestry Hall project, which currently supports young men to improve their lives.
Families face extra hardship with the Council decision to cut early years services and libraries.
Community groups and advice
The cuts to community assemblies will include the loss of many small projects funded by their “discretionary budget.” Voluntary organisations will be affected by a 7.5% cut to the Grant Aid budget. The cut will not be evenly spread, as some projects will be cut more than others. In Burngreave, advice services, currently provided by Pitsmoor CAB, Yemeni Community Association and Pakistan Advice and Community Association will be affected. There are additional cuts to advice work resources in the Early Years Services.
It’s unlikely that any group or service in Burngreave will be left unaffected by these cuts. In fact, some provision that has taken decades to develop will be swept away overnight from the 1st April. The consequences will be very grave for our area.